Is your toddler bored of his usual routine? Has the park become boring, and the toys not so much fun? Do you refuse to let your child spend the day watching TV?

Well. Mine is. Swimming in the ocean, playing cars, playing at the park, and being creative with playdoh have officially bored my active 2 year old. So today, I had to think of ways to spend the day with him. It was 1pm by the time he was just not into anything and it was too late in the day to drive to DisneyLand, so I went online and got some creative play ideas.

I got all the pictures online because my camera needs new batteries.

1. Frogger: Get some green cloth, poster board, or construction paper and cut out lillypads. Tape them around the house in a line and have your child jump on each one like a frog until he finds “the fly” which can be a picture of a bug or candy or anything you can think of. For us, this took half an hour to set up, a good 10 minutes to do, and lots of giggles and smiles. If you have the time, I recommend this. Your child will think it is so much fun.

2. Mailman: Make a “mailbox” out of a shoebox. Take some envelopes, (or make your own) and write a little note, or put a small toy such as a car, army man, or lego in each envelope and hide them around the house. Have your child find the envelopes and then “mail” them in the mailbox. Once again, it takes a while to set up nicely, but it definitely helps keep the attention of a small child. My son took about an hour and a half finding 20 envelopes, laughing hysterically around the house, and then mailing each one.

3. Campground: This is a good one to secretly set up in his bedroom to surprise him later. You don’t need a tent, just some blankets and chairs, some crumpled red and orange paper, and some sticks from the yard. The sticks and paper are for the fire, and the blankets and chairs are to make your tent. Put some objects in the hallway or another room, and have your child decide what to bring to the campground. (Ex: pots, books, pillows, blankets, sippy cups, some snacks, etc) Put some other non-camping objects in the pile as well and see what your child uses them for. I will say, this idea may be best for nap-time, rather than bedtime, or even just as playtime. I used it an hour ago as Lucas was about to get ready to sleep at the “campground” and he was too excited to actually lay down and sleep, so I had to read books until he was knocked out.

4. Obstacle Course: Got a fenced in backyard and some sun? Make an obstacle course! Hula hoops can be jumped in , Chairs can be crawled under, a small pool and can be filled with water or sand, cones or empty drink containers can be ran around, etc.

5. Box Crawl: Got some old moving boxes from a move? Don’t throw those away! Have some fun and make a fort. Have your child crawl through each one and make spaces for him to peek out.

Be creative. I did all of this while Lucas was at his Uncle’s house, so he had no idea what was going on, but if you’re up to deal with a possible mess, have your child help build a fort, decorate a shoebox, and set up a course!